This is the third year we have done a message series focused on finances. Every year we have done the series I have learned more about Christ’s teachings and understood more deeply the connection between giving to God and receiving divine approval and blessing. Parables I have heard in Church all my life have delivered new and richer meanings as I have learned to see with eyes of faith. The genius of the Gospel and Jesus’ teaching is that we can return again and again to them and find deeper meaning and perspective. This is why each year we do a series on our finances. Without a continual return to Christ’s teachings on money, we will not see the connection between our finances and our relationship with God. We won’t know deep in our hearts, the rewards of surrendering our finances to God and using our money according to the teachings of Christ.

The passage from Matthew we read today is one of Jesus’ best known parables and if you are a churchgoer, you have no doubt heard it before. It is commonly called the Parable of the Talents. Three servants are given three different amounts of money from their master. Two servants invest the money and are rewarded by the master, but the third buries the money, hoping to keep it for himself and so suffers greatly. The parable so correctly describes our feelings towards our money. Just as the master appears distant to the servants, God seems distant to us, as if he doesn’t even care about how we handle money, but Jesus makes clear that no matter how it may look or feel to us, God will return one day to settle our account. One day he will ask us how we used his money. In that moment, we will see clearly whether the use of our money has led to unspeakable joy or unimaginable pain. Our culture obfuscates this very clear truth Jesus communicates in Matthew’s Gospel, so it is in our benefit to continually refocus our minds on what Jesus, and not what culture says, about our finances. For me, the take away from this parable is not the fear of punishment, but to use my money so that I can experience the joy the Gospel describes, the joy of being told by my heavenly Father, “Well done, good and faithful steward. Come and share your master’s joy.”

CS Lewis writes in the Weight of Glory, “The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some us, that any of us who really chooses…shall please God. To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness, to be loved by God, not merely pitied but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son – it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.” The Parable of the Talents tells us that if we invest our money to build God’s kingdom, the all-powerful Creator of heaven and earth would not only applaud us, but also allow us to share in his joy. It is simply amazing. Why wouldn’t we surrender our finances to his control for that unbelievable reward? Why wouldn’t we give away green pieces of paper with pictures of dead men so that we could taste that reward? Why not give up stuff that eventually is going to be in a junk yard to receive praise from our heavenly Father? Can you really think of a better use of your money? Neither can I.

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

I have three sons Max, Gus and Nate. Believe it or not, from time to time they actually fight over who gets what toys. Sometimes my oldest son Max will be playing with a toy and the younger ones will somehow take it from him. Now Max is much bigger and stronger so he can just take it back and overpower his younger brothers, but if I am present and Max begins to use force I will say, “Max, wait.” If Max doesn’t listen chaos ensues. Usually not knowing his own strength, Max bruises and hurts his little brothers they begin crying, Max gets angry, I get angry and it’s just a mess. If Max waits and listens I easily convince my younger sons to hand over the toy and everyone is happy. Peace settles over the land.

Just as my son Max is wise to wait on his father to act on his behalf, sometimes the best decision we can make to improve our lives is to wait on our heavenly Father and trust in his timing. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they who wait for the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” I love that image from Isaiah. Waiting on the Lord strengthens us, makes it so we can soar. We are not waiting in a kind of bored passive way the way we would wait to get on a bus or train or at a doctor’s office. We wait expectantly so we can soar, so we can fly, so we can grow stronger. Waiting on the Lord and trusting in his timing prepares us to be stronger and build more endurance. We are waiting on the Lord not just so we can get by and kind of get through life, but so that we will be successful and experience abundant joy and freedom like an eagle soaring. God will intervene but he makes us wait because in that waiting we are being strengthened, God is building our character.

The reading from Habakuk says, “The rash man has no integrity, but the just man because of his faith shall live.” Often we think of integrity as good ethics or morals, but integrity means more than that. Integrity means completed, wholeness, integrated. If we step back from our problems instead of rashly running ahead and trying to fix them and allow God into them, God won’t only help us with our problems, he will heal us, he will make us more whole, complete and integrated in our character. When my son Max waits to get the toy not only is there more peace and less chaos, but he learns patience. Max is growing in his ability to control himself, he is getting stronger and learning he can trust his father. When we wait on the Lord and his timing, we grow stronger in character and build trust in our heavenly Father. The rash man has no integrity but the just man because of his faith will live.

As we begin our series, where do you have a problem or area you want to grow and get stronger? Is it your marriage? Is it better use of your finances or getting out of debt? Is your family struggling? Invite the Lord into your problem and recognize you will have to wait on him, that God will put you on a path to solving your problem but it will take time. If you wait on him, you will not only overcome your problem you will soar and be lifted up on wings like eagles.

First Blog

I am trying this "blogging" thing out at the suggestion of Chris Wesley because everyone in the world wants to know what I am thinking. So here it is. I'm thinking no one will ever read this.